Because of you they will be healed

2nd Week of Advent (M)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

A paralyzed man is brought to Jesus for healing. The man's friends, unable to get through the crowd surrounding Jesus, lower him from the roof through the ceiling. Seeing an opportunity to not only reconcile a sinner to God but to teach the Pharisees a lesson, Jesus does what no one but God Himself can do: he forgives the poor man's sins. Predictably, the Pharisees start murmuring among themselves and quietly accusing Jesus of blasphemy. In answer to these accusations, Jesus says to the man, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” And he does. Just like that. His sins are forgiven and his disability is healed. Luke reports that those who witness this miracle are seized with astonishment and glorify God, saying, “We have seen incredible things today.” Now, this event may not seem so incredible to us b/c we've been reading about it for some 2,000 years. That Jesus healed the sick as part of his ministry is hardly astonishing to us. That sin is part and parcel of physical illness is not really all that shocking anymore either. What might get missed in the telling of this miraculous story is the fact that Jesus forgives the man's sin not b/c the man himself has faith sufficient to justify absolution but b/c the man's friends show their faith in the authority of the Son of Man to forgive. When Jesus sees the faith of the man's friends, he says, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.” 

While we are focused on the miraculous healing and the public rebuke of the Pharisees' disbelief, we might miss one of the more theologically significant points in this story: forgiveness of sins can be obtained by someone other than the one forgiven. Unlike the blind man who was healed when he professed his faith in the Lordship of Christ, the paralyzed man never utters a word. We have no indication of his faith, no way of knowing whether or not he believed that Jesus was capable of restoring his legs to good use. All we know is that his friends believed and their belief was strong enough to compel them to go to great lengths to get their disabled friend in front of Jesus. For all we know, the disabled man did not believe. He have may even been actively disbelieving! It makes no difference. Jesus heals him because—that is, in virtue of—the astonishing faith of those who love him. 

This miracle tells us a lot about the nature of faith and the power of intercessory prayer. First, faith is contagious. Its benefits are not immediately limited to believers alone. Second, interceding on behalf of a loved one, even an unbelieving loved one, can work miracles. Third, the authority of the Son of Man to forgive sins extends over all, believers, non-believers, and those who actively disbelieve. And finally, knowing all of this to be true, those of us who follow Christ are charged with putting our faith to work for those who do not believe. Knowing that our faith can merit the forgiveness of another person's sins, how can we fail to intercede on their behalf? How can we fail to share the fruits of the faith we ourselves have been given?

Who in your life is paralyzed by sin? Who needs the healing touch of Christ's forgiveness? Use your faith to intercede for them. Lower them through the ceiling to rest in front of Christ and allow those whom you love to be infected by your divine gift of trusting in God. Christ will see them, and because of you, they will be healed.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Italian deacon commits suicide after he is denied priestly ordination.  I think the fact that he kills himself is a sure indication that he was emotionally/spiritually unfit for ordination.  Please pray for the repose of this young man's soul!

UN "Global Warming" conference in Cancun opens with a prayer to the Mayan moon goddess.  While these neo-pagan globalists are partying in the tropics, northern Europe is buried under record snowfall. It's 30 degrees in Rome this morning.

Quick!  Someone tell Arnie. . .Skynet is born!

Is America Satanophobic?

WOW.  A rather scathing report on the bishops' conference in England & Wales. 

FCC power grab over the internet.  I'm not really worried about this.  The second these regulations become inconvenient for web surfers there will be a tsunami of protests.   Prepare the lawyers for deployment!

Some very smart, very thought-provoking commentary on the Repeal Amendment. 

A blog of blogs (religion, philosophy, psychology). . .NB.  Some of the blogs linked are not Catholic-friendly.

Were combat troops adequately represented?  Casting serious doubts on the Pentagon's troop survey about repealing DADT. 

Remember when Bush and the GOP were the "enemies of science"? 

Weird family pics

Methinks Kitty sees Zombies sneaking up on you

How to make sure that the seat next to you remains empty

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Dominican Snowball Fight!

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Faith for all the blind to see

St. Francis Xavier

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

In this age of instant celebrity, it seems more than a little strange to us that Jesus would perform a healing miracle and order those whom he healed to keep the event quiet. These days, the miraculous restoration of the sight of two blind men would attract an incredible amount of media attention, skeptical commentary, and calls for scientific verification. We'd watch theologians, philosophers, and physicians endlessly debate the healing, while Jesus fought off attempts by the government to charge him with medical malpractice and fraud. Of course, none of this would have happened in first century Israel. At the most, Jesus could expect some unwanted attention from the religious authorities and a dramatic increase in the size of the crowds that followed him around. Since his ministry among the poor, blind, lame, and possessed was already drawing attention and the crowds growing daily, it seems more than a little strange that Jesus would command the healed men to be silent about their healing. Isn't the whole point of Jesus' healing miracles to provide evidence of the divine nature of his preaching mission? No, that's not the point at all. In fact, the healing miracles have little to do with providing evidence for Jesus' ministry. 

If Jesus' healing of the blind men was meant to provide evidence for the truth of his claims to be the Son of God, then the events of the gospel story this morning would have been very different. The men would have approached Jesus asking for proof of his divine powers. Jesus would have healed them and then asked, “Do you believe that I healed you?” The newly sighted men would have replied, “Yes, we believe!” And then Jesus would have sent them off to spread the news of his healing ministry. Instead, we get just the opposite. First, the men approach Jesus, addressing him as “Son of David,” begging him to show them compassion by curing their blindness. Then Jesus confirms their faith by asking if they they believe he can heal him. They answer, “Yes, Lord.” Yes. Lord. Before Jesus ever touches the men, they acknowledge his identity as the promised Messiah, giving him his due as their Lord. Only after this profession of faith does Jesus lay hands on them, saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Faith first, then healing.

Jesus “warns them sternly” to be silent about this miracle. Why? It's possible that our Lord wants to keep his identity a secret for a while longer. He might want a little more time to establish himself as a serious preacher before rumors start flying that he is just another one of the many crank magicians or street prophets clogging the cities of Israel. The more likely explanation is that Jesus understands better than we ever can that the most profound healing that can occur to any sinful creature is the healing of our fallen relationship with the Father. From a righteous relationship with God flows all other forms of “rightness,” including physical health. By definition there can be no evidence that compels faith. Good evidence—miracles, for example—might weaken skepticism about God but trust in God comes entirely from His gift of faith and our conscious decision to practice this virtue. Jesus' order to these men to be silent about their healing is his way of saying to them, to the crowds, and to us that faith must precede righteousness. When we say, “Yes, Lord,” we must say it in the absence of compelling evidence and sometimes despite the evidence. Faith based on experience is not faith at all; it's simply a good bet, a gamble that one good experience will likely lead to another. 

First comes faith, then righteousness. This is the order of salvation in Christ Jesus. Our lives in Christ will be a witness to this proper ordering. And that will be miracle enough to bring all the blind to sight.

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Misbehavin' in the college classroom

Professor Bainbridge has an interesting post up about how profs should manage classroom misbehavior in a college setting.

I remember one philosophy prof of mine flinging an eraser at a frat boy when he popped open a copy of the newspaper (ca. 1983).  And I remember another philosophy prof demanding that all the guys in class remove their caps.  

I started teaching undergrad English in 1987, long before laptops and wireless internet access became university entitlements.  The daily campus newspaper often made an appearance on desktops (the non-cyber kind), but my classes were always heavy on reading and discussion.  Also, I was rather free and eager in calling on students to answer questions.  

During summer sessions at U.D., facebooking, etc. became a problem, so I started calling on the miscreants to read aloud and explicate passages from the assigned readings.  After being called on for the third time in a row, the offenders usually got the point and stopped the nonsense.  

Any war stories from profs/students on bad classroom behavior?

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

An assessment of the WikiLeaks leaks.  A German friar here told me yesterday that the leaks--especially the frank descriptions of E.U. leaders--are embarrassing precisely b/c they are true!  Ah, the truth shall set you free.

And here are just a few of the more frank assessments. . .wouldn't we all love to read what world leaders think of our national leadership?

As a classical political liberal, this sort of thing doesn't bother me at all.  As a Catholic and a Dominican, my response is:  "Celebrate Faith & Reason.  The Best God Has To Offer!"  When atheists argue that religious belief is "irrational," what they mean is that religious belief fails to satisfy the methodological demands of materialist science. 

Americans want and expect ObamaCare to be repealed. 

A new website for all your Catholic punditry needs:  The Pulpit.

Classical Rhetoric 101. . ."rhetoric" means something very different in the postmodern world.  Generally, when you read or hear someone use the word "rhetoric" they mean "the way in which an idea is framed using language to disguise their intent." 

The retard with the flamethrower. . .

Who shot the couch?  Bad 70's fashions

Redneck home improvement ideas

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Good News/Great News: a new preaching project

The student friars of St Dominic's Priory in St. Louis, MO are launching a website dedicated to preaching!

Preaching Friars

Several of the more recent General Chapters of the Order have urged the friars to make better use of the internet to spread the Good News. 

Please, take a few minutes to visit the brothers and express your support for this fledgling project.  As I have noted many, many times:  Catholic preaching will only get better if Catholics demand better preaching.

Also, check out this article on the new building that will house the joint studium* of the Central and Southern Provinces. 

* "Studium" is Dominicanese for "seminary."

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Excellent vid of E.U. Parliament member, Nigel Farage blasting the E.U.'s power-grabbing impulses.  British politicians are some of the best debaters and public speakers in the world!

Teenage girl is arrested in the U.K. for allegedly burning a copy of the Koran.  You have to wonder if she would have been arrested for burning the Bible. 

DHS seizes domain names. . .yes, these sites were promoting illegal activities but my guess is that this all thing is really about getting us used to the idea that gov't agencies can use police powers to shut down dissenting websites.  Paranoid much, Father?  Hey. . .just 'cause I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me!  :-)

"Human rights" commission in Mexico uses its investigative powers to intimidate those who dare express Wrong-Thought during an "ex-gay" conference. 

Great story about the transformation of a moribund parish in Brooklyn.

NFL player drops the ball, loses the game, and blames God.  Methinks he needs a theology class or two.

Update on the Repeal Amendment. . .I still that this is an excellent idea.  Imagine a Congress where legislation is thought through with an eye toward the possibility that any power-grabbing by the federal gov't could be voided by a supermajority of the states!

Wikileaks completes B.O.'s transformation into Jimmy Carter.  I disagree.  Carter was weak and incompetent in the Oval Office.  B.O. makes Carter look like Reagan.

This kid must be visiting Rome.  Pick a piazza.  Any piazza.

Months later. . .and this is STILL hilarious.  

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Cell Phone Recommendations

Since I will be in the U.S. for almost a year and half of that in parish ministry, I will need a cell phone. . .

Any suggestions for a phone using the following criteria:

Inexpensive flip phone (I am clumsy!)

No contract with a provider

Pay as you go

No data/no frills

Just a simple phone.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

12 Myths Every Catholic Should Be Able to Answer. . .these are more misconceptions about Catholicism than they are myths.

Secret meeting of a secret group of theologians giving the Holy Father secret advice!  The Rector of the Angelicum, Fr. Charles Morerod OP serves as the general secretary for the ITC.

Palin gets dumped on for an on-air gaffe. . .but she gets her revenge!

Yet another reason to hope for the quick demise of the E.U. . .I mean, other than this one.  Some in the U.K. want my fav European country of the E.U.

One of the nations largest unions will drop health care insurance for the children of low-wage members.  Why?  Drum-roll, please!  ObamaCare!  NB.  this union enthusiastically supported B.O.'s gov't run boondoggle.

Poor Edna. . .she opened the wrong can.

The god of cake. . .

Pope approved birth control!

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Hurry up and wait

34th Week OT (F)

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

Ss. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Here we are at the end of November in Rome. It's cold and raining. Has been for weeks now. We see the sun for maybe 30 minutes a day. All signs that winter is not far off. This morning Jesus tells us that the budding fig tree will be a sign that the long winter is ending and that summer is near. We also have John telling us that in his vision of the last judgment, “the former heaven and former earth had passed away.” The old order of the universe is replaced by “a new heaven and a new earth.” Winter turns to summer; the old gives way to the new. This isn't the Cycle of Life our pagan ancestors revered and celebrated; rather, it's the drama of human conversion from sin to salvation, the salvific action of Christ on the cross and our graced reaction to his sacrifice. Having died and risen again once for our sins, Christ continues to lure us away from disobedience and destruction and into a renewed life, an eternal life among all his redeemed in heaven. It is no accident that these readings come on the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent.

In the Church's liturgical year, Friday's are always marked as the dark day of the crucifixion, a day for penitential reflection and fasting. It is entirely fitting that we are called to repentance on this Friday, the Friday before we begin our long wait during Advent for the coming of the Christ Child. For four weeks we will watch for the signs of his coming. For four weeks we will pray, fast, study, do our work all the while waiting and waiting for the first signs of his coming. Even knowing that his coming is inevitable, even knowing that he has already arrived once for all, we will wait and wait. This generation—those who faithfully anticipate his arrival—this generation will not pass before he finally comes among us. Are you ready? Fully prepared? Ready to receive all the graces and all the tribulations he has to give you? 

Military men and women often describe their work as “hurrying up to wait.” Rush, rush, rush to get ready. . .and then a long, anxious wait for action. If John's apocalypse tells us anything, it tells us that now is the time to hurry up and wait. Hurry to repentance. Hurry to conversion. Hurry up and get your spiritual house in order. And then wait. Christ has come. Christ is coming. And he will come again. There's a new heaven and a new earth to anticipate. Be sure that you are ready!

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The first Thanksgiving Day menu?

Every American knows the proper menu for Thanksgiving Day:  turkey, cranberry sauce, cornbread stuffing, and pumpkin pie.  But did you know what the first Thanksgiving Day menu included?

Foods Included in the Original Thanksgiving Feast

In addition to the wild fowl, pumpkin and squash mentioned above, the following foods were certainly abundant and most likely were included in the “harvest” celebration:

• Fish
• Lobsters
• Eel
• Mussels
• Oysters
• Corn
• Parsnips
• Collards
• Turnips
• Spinach
• Onions
• Dried Beans
• Dried Blueberries
• Grapes
• Nuts

The whole article is worth a read.

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In praise of Americans and not giving a @#$%!

As an American living in Europe, I am often subjected to veiled and not-so-veiled remarks from Europeans about the cultural/political backwardness of our great nation.  From snickering comments about cowboys to outright falsehoods about the Tea Party, Europeans feel free to think out loud when it comes to taking elitist swipes at the American eagle.  Normally, I smile, say something self-deprecating, and move on.  

When I first arrived in Rome in 2008, a friar from an eastern European country acidly remarked on the U.S.'s military presence on the European continent.  Maybe it was just my mood that day, or maybe it was the strain of being one of the few Americans in the priory who didn't want to add Obama to the Holy Trinity; regardless, I replied, "Well, brother, I'd be happy to see us pull all of our troops out of Europe.  But then you guys who have to take up the slack and spend some of our state welfare money on keeping Putin out of your backyard.  It's the U.S.'s willingness to defend you that allows you to spend so much on government welfare."  Needless to say, he turned purple and the conversation ended.  

I'm reminded of this failure to keep my cool by this article from Inside Higher Ed, "In Praise of the Americans."  The piece ends with this observation: 

“All the world criticizes them and they don’t give a damn….Moralists cry over them, criminologists dissect them, writers shoot epigrams at them, prophets foretell the end of them, and they never move. Seventeen brilliant books analyze them every month; they don’t read them .… But that’s all right. The Americans don’t give a damn; don’t need to; never did need to. That is their salvation.”

This astute observation was written in 1932 by Canadian political scientist, Stephen Leacock.  His take on Americans still applies to 99.9% of us, I think.  However, it could be argued that we  are currently ruled by the .1% who do give a damn what Europeans think of us.  Maybe that's the Great Divide we're seeing in U.S. politics these days. . .

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

WOW. . .apparently, North Korea has lost its mind.

More on the amateurism of our current Betters:  rep from the Taliban in peace talks is an impostor.

This sounds like a good idea. . .frankly, anything that curbs the power of D.C. seems good right now.

"Catholics" in Belgium become Protestants while pretending to still be Catholics.  Only the NYT would think that this sort of thing is new. 

Anti-bullying law for NJ.  When responsible parenting fails, Nanny is always ready and willing to step in. 

Canonist Ed Peters is just a little bit peeved with L'Observatore over its premature publication of the Holy Father's comments on condom use.  Let the purge begin!

Upon hearing a weird combo of words, I always say, "That sounds like the name of a new band."

Um, no thanks. . .I'll wait for the next rest area.

When computer geeks get in trouble at school.

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A new assignment (UPDATED)

This just in. . .

My provincial has assigned me to help out at St. Joseph's parish in Ponchatula, LA from Jan to June 2011. 

I'll be assisting Fr. John Dominic Sims, OP.  This will be my first parochial assignment as a priest.

UPDATE:  Sorry, I didn't make this clear!  I will be returning to Rome in Oct 2011 to continue studies toward the PhD in philosophy.  I've done all I can here in Rome on the license until next Oct.

 

St. Joseph's

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